John Fletcher

Fletcher, John,

1579–1625, English dramatist, b. Rye, Sussex, educated at Cambridge. A member of a prominent literary family, he began writing for the stage about 1606, first with Francis BeaumontBeaumont, Francis, 1584?–1616, English dramatist. Born of a distinguished family, he studied at Oxford and the Inner Temple. His literary reputation is linked with that of John Fletcher, with whom he began collaborating about 1606......Click the link for more information., with whom his name is inseparably linked, later with Massinger and others. Fletcher may have collaborated with Shakespeare on Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen. He is also thought the principal author of Double Falsehood (first published 1727), in which Shakespeare may have had a hand. Though there is great uncertainty in dating the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, their chief works appeared between 1607 and 1613. In Philaster,A Maid's Tragedy,A King and No King, and The Scornful Lady, they developed the form of the romance tragicomedy, which came to characterize a whole generation of later plays. In these plays a potentially tragic situation is developed until, at the end, through a twist of plot a happy solution is effected. A prolific writer, he enjoyed great success in many genres because of his entertaining and accessible poetry, his masterful use of sexual intrigue, and the refined composition of his work.

Bibliography

See edition of the works of Beaumont and Fletcher by F. Bowers (7 vol., 1966–); studies by E. Waith (1952), A. E. Thorndike (1965), and J. H. Wilson (1968).

Fletcher, John

Born December 1579 in Rye, Sussex; died August 1625 in London. English dramatist.

Fletcher wrote most of his plays in collaboration with F. Beaumont (Philaster, 1611; The Maid’s Tragedy, 1611; and A King and No King, 1611) and P. Massinger (The Little French Lawyer, 1619). Among the plays that he wrote alone were Monsieur Thomas (1615), Wit Without Money (1614), and Rule a Wife and Have a Wife (1624). Fletcher’s works pose no profound national, political, or ethical problems; the plays reflect the moral corruption of the nobility and the court aristocracy and challenge bourgeois Puritanism and its sanctimonious morality. Fletcher and Beaumont originated the genre of tragicomedy.

Councillor John Fletcher, chairman of the Millennium Forum, said: "The whole ethos of the initiative is to create fabulous public spaces and new buildings but at the same time exposing some of our hidden history.

John Fletcher, owner of The Birdcage, a popular bar in Newport, Gwent, has been ordered by the High Court to pay music licensing company PPL PS20,000, which includes PS6,000 in damages and PS14,000 in court costs.

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